When Worlds Quake: The Quest to Understand the Interior of Earth and Beyond
When Worlds Quake takes readers on a fascinating journey through the world of earthquakes, from the basics of seismology and calculating magnitude to the latest advances in the study of seismic events on Mars (marsquakes).
The book moves back and forth between some of the world’s great earthquakes, showing how lives can change within seconds and the heartbreaking tragedies they leave behind. From the first seismoscope, designed with dragon heads spitting balls into frogs’ mouths, to monitoring nuclear tests at Warramunga in the Australian outback while facing wildlife encounters, the stories keep the reader engaged throughout. Japanese folklore imagined earthquakes as the movement of a giant fish long before modern science was fully developed, and the story of Matilda the cow, standing on two different continents when the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 split the San Andreas Fault beneath her, makes the book a blend of fun anecdotes, adventure and scientific discovery. In fact, the narration is so engaging that the chapter on installing ocean-bottom seismometers in the Southern Ocean feels like watching a thriller, making the reader eager to know whether it was successful.
The stories also vividly convey what seismologists must endure during instrument deployments in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties (strong westerly winds in the Southern Hemisphere) and explains why it is so important to place seismographs there despite the arduous journey. The emotional weight of these voyages is powerful; the homecoming brings tears not only to the expedition members but also to the reader.
Filled with awe, danger and inspiration, the book also traces the remarkable journeys of seismologists Andrija Mohorovičić and Inge Lehmann and tells the story of the young boy who woke up to an earthquake in disbelief and later became the author, a pioneer in studying earthquakes and the interiors of Earth and other planetary bodies.
Overall, When Worlds Quake shows the challenges and dedication involved in being a seismologist and how studying the Earth and other planets contributes to the advancement of human civilisation and the future possibility of inhabiting another world. For any curious reader, the book surely leaves us all a little shaken.
Reviewed by M. Rema Vaishali
DETAILS
BY: Hrvoje Tkalcic (2026) Princeton University Press, 312 pp.
ISBN: 9780691271477
PRICE: £25, available from Geoscientist’s bookshop
